Our 2 summer registration days had the phone lines ringing non-stop for 3 hours each morning; some people trying to register said they redialed over 350 times! As a result, every one of our summer family retreats is totally full and most have wait-lists. This is a new experience, as we usually have space in many of them well into May, and we feel badly for the many families we won’t be able to accommodate this year. Currently there are 195 families registered to come and 19 more waiting to get in. As we answer the phone, this chart is how we keep track of the number in each family for the week they are requesting and what type of room they need so we have an ongoing total and know what is left for space in any given week.

The outcome of those 2 days shows how much The Station is needed so that we have kitchen facilities to feed more guests, a meeting room that will accommodate all the adults, and 7 more rooms for housing families! We are thrilled that so many are excited to come.

Our Preparing for Marriage weekend is also full. We are delighted so many are taking advantage of some pre-marital sessions that will explore areas sometimes not considered while dating and equip them with skills that will strengthen their relationships.

Last weekend was a retreat with Dan & Andrea Heavenor on “Walking Alongside Jesus in the Gospels” with a focus on prayer. Guest comments included, “Thank you for expanding my understanding and practice of prayer…this retreat was more impactful than I anticipated.”

Our Summer Staff hiring is complete – watch for an upcoming post of who will be serving you this summer. There also we are so blessed by the young adults who give up other summer jobs in order to be a part of this ministry.

Kim, our Farm Director, has worked up the greenhouse (although the chickens are still occupying the back portion) and started many seedlings so we are eagerly awaiting the first greens to grow big enough to serve. She has a desk full of packages of seeds to plant when she returns from her hydroponics course at YWAM Kona’s natural farm in Hawaii.

Construction has also been moving ahead. The roof on the Orchard Terrace is pretty well completed – still working on trim. The dining room windows look great!

Wednesday the barge arrived with 2 semi-trailer loads of the remaining windows. For those who are interested in the logistics of getting a large semi-trailer onto the island, here’s a glimpse of the process of getting one off the barge when you are dealing with different angles and a long trailer that scrapes on the deck as the truck drives up the ramp, ferry wake causing the barge levels to fluctuate, and not enough power to pull the load at that slope on a gravel surface from a standstill. Add a 90 deg. corner with a large rock and boat house to avoid on one side and a steep bank with a ditch of water on the other and it makes for a bit of a challenge.

Some were unloaded into The Station so our crew of volunteers next week can tape them all off and spray the interior casings with stain before they are installed.

Rough-in plumbing has been done for the volunteer cabin. The glass doors leading to the deck offer a wonderful view!

Our views are still very wintry with fresh snow on the mountains most nights and frequent flurries here as well. In spite of that the crocus continue to bloom, daffodils are about ready to open up and the robins (with cold feet, I’m sure) are cheerily catching worms so we hope spring is not too far off!